Paging

Definition - What does Paging mean?

Paging refers to memory allocation. In a paging memory management scheme, data are stored and managed in identical consistent blocks referred to as 'pages.’

Techopedia explains Paging

Paging can be important in memory storage for hardware systems because it allows more versatility than some traditional processes.

Older paradigms involved putting programs into contiguous or linear storage, which caused problems with disk fragmentation and other issues. Users would have to run defragmentation utilities to optimize hard disk space.

With the emergence of virtual memory and virtualized systems, paging plays an even more developed role. Paging can be part of the memory management storage setup that uses logical or virtual systems over physical random access memory storage designs.

Experts also often contrast paging with segmentation, where more broad-based protocols involve a segment for each process. Engineers look at how data goes from a CPU to memory, and how to make that process more productive and efficient, which is where paging can factor into a more futuristic design.